(WASHINGTON) - Southwestern Indiana officials are urging the state's highway department not to temporarily close a county road for work on the Interstate 69 extension amid fears it could hamper fire and ambulance service.

Daviess County Commissioner Tony Wichman says it takes seven to eight minutes to drive around the construction zone at regular speed and "seven to eight minutes is a lifetime when you are having a heart attack."

INDOT is closing parts of one north-south county road along the construction zone today.

The north-south road is closing for I-69 construction, next to already-closed Troy Road.

The Daviess County Commissioners have asked INDOT not to close County Road 125 East due to fire and ambulance service in the area.

County Road 125 East will be closed from the junction of County Road 250 South to County Road 150 South.

Wichman said last fall, when contracts were being negotiated with INDOT for construction of Section II of I-69, the county compromised with INDOT and Walsh Construction, the company in charge of Section II road building, that Troy Road and County Road 125 East, or any two north-south roads next to each other, would not be closed at the same time.

INDOT spokeswoman Cher Elliott says the agency will be working with county officials on the situation.

Wichman is asking residents to attend Today's commissioners meeting to voice their concerns about the road closures.